Rossputin's Report, Part 2: The Left's Innuendos Don't Stack Up to the Truth

Yesterday we highlighted the first of Rossputin's scheduled eight-part series going in-depth to investigate the allegations made concerning Bob Schaffer's 1999 trip to the Marianas Islands.

A well-known Lefty commenter here left a cryptic comment, saying we should look at Rocky Mountain News liberal columnist Jason Salzman's blog to demonstrate that we "protest too much about telling the truth." This is what was supposed to bowl us over:

In addition to ripping off Native Americans, Abramoff made big money defending the Marianas Islands’ exploitative immigration policies, which may even have resulted in forced abortions. Abramoff spearheaded a successful lobbying campaign to block immigration reform in the Marianas. Abramoff specifically targeted the House Resources Committee, which had jurisdiction over the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and on which Schaffer was a member. Only last month, after decades of oppositin [sic] from Abramoff and Congressmen like Schaffer, did Congress finally pass immigration reform for the Marianas.

As reported in The Post, Schaffer visited Marianas, courtesy of an organization with ties to Abramoff, and defended its immigration policies in Washington DC. Overall, Schaffer’s lobbying tactics aligned with Abramoff’s. [emphases added]

It makes a nicely packaged narrative, with a lot of innuendo and guilt by association, but its clever characterizations and omission of key facts adds up to missing the truth by a mile. When you read it carefully, what Salzman writes really doesn't say much at all, except that what Schaffer (and others) observed firsthand about CNMI doesn't match the rhetoric of Big Labor leaders.

To get a better picture, read Rossputin's second installment. First, there "may have been forced abortions," Salzman slyly writes, repeating one case of secondhand testimony. But how about the testimony of a Christian missionary who visited the island and had her eyes opened?:

And regarding “forced abortions”, Mrs. Lafferty says “I was not able to find anyone who had an abortion, whether forced or not, and nobody I met knew anybody who had had an abortion.” Lafferty went out of her way to try to ensure honest answers from the workers: “We made it abundantly clear that if anyone was being hurt, raped, or enslaved, I would see to it that the perpetrator would go to jail, and the victim would be taken care of. If anybody needed help, I would help them.” Still, with this sort of “witness protection program” offer (my characterization, not Lafferty’s), and with a Chinese missionary as a translator, none of the allegations which made Lafferty’s blood boil seemed to have any substance.

The organization that paid for the trip?:

As far as who paid for the trip that Schaffer was part of, Lafferty put it directly: “We paid for the trip and as far as I know we were not reimbursed for anything by [Abramoff lobbying firm] Preston-Gates.”

Rossputin goes on to show that the Post's sinister claims that Schaffer "met with clients of Preston-Gates" amount to nothing. He could not have conducted a thorough independent investigation otherwise.

Rossputin also debunks the Post's use of a photo to make it look like Bob Schaffer and his wife merely took a pleasure trip to the Marianas - something Lefty bloggers have seized on repeatedly to promote their distorted picture of reality:

After those several days of nearly non-stop investigation and meetings, Schaffer was scheduled to fly home the next morning when someone asked him how he had enjoyed the island, to which Schaffer responded, according to the source just mentioned, “It’s a shame it’s so beautiful and I never got a chance to see it”. That person then contacted someone he knew at the airline and arranged to get Schaffer’s return flight moved from the following morning to the following evening so that Schaffer and his wife (who had accompanied him to investigate garment factories and interview workers) could have a few hours of relaxation before flying home. Schaffer, his wife, and the staffer who accompanied them on the trip, enjoyed a few hours of recreation without hosts and without being accompanied by representatives of the government or any industry, after Schaffer’s mission on the island had been completed.

Should we expect to see anyone recant and/or apologize for perpetuating a distorted picture of reality?

Keep reading Rossputin's important investigative series.

Lynn Bartels to Airbrush "Boulder Liberal" from Mark Udall "on a case-by-case basis"

Liberal Rocky Mountain News media critic Jason Salzman adds a clarification:

In my last post, I provided Rocky Mountain News reporter Lynn Bartels explanation of why she deleted “Boulder liberal” from a quotation from Dick Wadhams, spokesman for Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer.

I should have made it clear that Bartels will not routinely delete “Boulder liberal” from Wadhams’ quotations in which he refers to Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall of Eldorado Springs as “Boulder liberal Mark Udall.”

She will evaluate Wadhams quotes on a case-by-case basis.

Applying the rule arbitrarily rather than uniformly does not make the situation any better. Readers of the Rocky Mountain News deserve to know what criteria will be used to airbrush the accurate phrase "Boulder liberal" from quoted descriptions of Mark Udall in Lynn Bartels' news stories.

And Colorado voters deserve to know why the phrase "Boulder liberal" suddenly seems to frighten Mark Udall so much.

"Boulder Liberal" Airbrush Only Reminds Why Tag Accurately Describes Mark Udall

When liberal columnist Jason Salzman covers for Rocky Mountain News reporter Lynn Bartels' editorial decision to airbrush Dick Wadhams' "Boulder liberal" description from a quote to describe Mark Udall, it's our job to re-introduce a few relevant facts.

Though Mark Udall has never lived within the Boulder city limits, his official residence for years was listed as "Mark Udall (D-Boulder)", without protest. Within the last year, Udall has publicly referred to Boulder as his "touchstone."

This blog also did a months-long tally of references of Mark Udall's position on the political spectrum by Left-of-center bloggers and traditional press. "Liberal" is not only the most commonly used tag to describe Udall but also the most mainstream designation, with variations of "reliably Left wing" coming in second. Hence the name: "The Mark Udall is not a Moderate Scoreboard."

Finally, Mark Udall's spokesperson also has admitted the "Boulder liberal" tag will not hurt the candidate. We can only guess Udall may have changed his mind, that having Coloradans reminded he is a "Boulder liberal" is not helping the campaign at all.

Lynn Bartels' explanation for omitting both "Boulder" and "liberal" from Wadhams' quote to describe Democratic candidate Mark Udall has ignored some pertinent facts. The editorializing should be left to others.

"Desperate Hypocrisy" in Liberal Media Columnist's Calls to Question Jack Abramoff

Bob Agard, one of Colorado's more insightful bloggers, has highlighted the "desperate hypocrisy" of the Left in trying to make their feeble charges against Bob Schaffer stick:

Jason Salzman, in his lefty On The Media column in today's Rocky Mountain News, wants reporters to try to talk directly to [jailed lobbyist Jack] Abramoff. Yes, that's right, now the left is taking the desperate last ditch tactic of trying to get Abramoff to say that he had some ties with Schaffer! The vile, corrupt, jailed lobbyist is now going to be the left's last best hope to revive the story! They have painted him as completely corrupt, but now hope he will say that he did have ties to Schaffer! That's called trying to have it both ways, or having your cake and eating it too. The hypocrisy never ends.

On his blog, the liberal Salzman follows up by using a clever angle to try to push Rocky reporter M.E. Sprengelmeyer to follow up on the case:

Abramoff ordered a couple suits when he was making big bucks ripping off American Indians and others, but he couldn’t pay for the suits because he went bankrupt when authorities caught him.

The Rocky’s Sprengelmeyer, who was roughly the same size as Abramoff, snapped up Abramoff’s suits at a bargain rate from the fancy tailor in Washington DC.

So, situated in Washington and possibly even wearing Abramoff’s clothes, Sprengelmeyer is in a great position to find answers to troubling Abramoff-related questions that have popped up lately in Denver.

Was Schaffer or his staff doing Abramoff’s bidding in defending the immigration policies of the Marianas Islands that resulted in forced abortions and other worker abuse?

I hope Sprengelmeyer does everything he can to find out. The Rocky has some catching up to do.

Great idea, Mr. Salzman. I can almost imagine Mr. Sprengelmeyer arranging an appointment to interview Abramoff in federal prison: "Hey, Jack, let me tell you this story how I got your pants...."

Bob Agard's point is dead-on: The Left's attacks have descended into desperation and hypocrisy. Interestingly, in both his column and his blog, Salzman couldn't be bothered to even drop a mention of the questions remaining in the actual reported connection between Jack Abramoff and Mark Udall. Of the two candidates, Udall was the one to actually take Abramoff money.

Mr. Salzman is upset that his newspaper hasn't joined in the attempt to wring every last drop out of the smear story on Bob Schaffer, but he can pretend the barely touched story of Mark Udall's connections to Jack Abramoff doesn't exist.

Desperation and hypocrisy, indeed.